Intellectual Property Operations Senior Specialist (Functional Lead)
TikTok USDS Joint Venture
2 hours ago
Full-time
On-site
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Manager
Responsibilities
As a member of the Safety Regulatory Compliance Operations (SRCO) team, you will play a key role in keeping TikTok safe and trustworthy for our community. SRCO balances corporate compliance with practical operational safeguards to protect our users. Across our verticals, we work together to build efficient workflows that manage legal risk, covering regulatory compliance, law enforcement requests, and emergency response.
We are looking for a senior Intellectual Property (IP) Functional Lead to serve as an operational anchor and peer mentor for our team in Sydney. Operating as an advanced individual contributor (IC), you will bridge the gap when U.S. teams are offline, serving as the primary operational authority, mentor, and escalation lead during the APAC shift. You will work directly in active queues while guiding local team members, managing time-sensitive cross-functional requests, and ensuring seamless continuity for the USDS JV division. You are a systems thinker and rapid learner, that synthesizes product logic with legal requirements, leverage technical credibility and influence without authority to resolve "unsolvable" challenges and lead vital cross-functional partnerships.
Responsibilities
- Act as the senior operational reference point and peer mentor for Sydney team members navigating complex, ambiguous, or edge-case IP and legal moderation cases.
- Work directly within core operational queues and intake channels (including copyright, trademark, and counterfeit goods) under U.S. legal frameworks, ensuring high quality and strict SLA adherence.
- Serve as the immediate regional lead for high-stakes, time-sensitive escalations, high-profile requests, and emergency incidents during APAC business hours.
- Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Account Management, Legal, Policy, and Product) to address regional needs, resolve operational roadblocks, and communicate status updates effectively.
- Proactively audit workflows to identify operational gaps, tool inefficiencies, and policy friction points, presenting actionable solutions and process improvements to team leadership.
- Drive operational and project work during stable volume periods to improve documentation, edge-case guidance, and shift-handover protocols between Sydney and U.S. counterparts.
- Maintain strong self-direction, prioritization, and executive decision-making capabilities while working independently in a fast-paced environment.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.
- 5 years of experience in Trust & Safety, Legal Operations, Content Moderation, Risk Management, or a related high-velocity operational domain or compliance landscape.
- Proven ability to act as a senior subject matter expert or functional lead, with experience mentoring peers and guiding team members through ambiguous cases.
- Demonstrated track record of making high-judgment operational decisions independently in isolation or under tight time constraints.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the diplomatic finesse required to manage relationships with cross-functional partners, senior leadership, and Account Managers.
- Comfortable reviewing and handling sensitive, high-profile, or challenging content.
- Ability to work in differing work rotations/shifts (including nights, public holidays, and weekends) to ensure time-zone alignment with global and U.S. operations.
Preferred Qualifications
- Strong foundational knowledge of Intellectual Property (IP) law, including practical application of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Lanham Act.
- Direct experience handling high-risk escalations.
- Proven resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence when managing operational stress and navigating organizational change.
Trust & Safety
Content that this role interacts with includes images, video, and text related to every-day life, but it can also include (but is not limited to) bullying; hate speech; child safety; depictions of harm to self and others, and harm to animals. Hence, it is possible that this role will be exposed to harmful content on a daily basis.
TikTok recognises that keeping our platform safe for the TikTok communities is no ordinary job which can be both rewarding and psychologically demanding and emotionally taxing for some. This is why we are sharing the potential hazards, risks and implications in this unique line of work from the start, so our candidates are well informed before joining.
We are committed to the wellbeing of all our employees and promise to provide comprehensive and evidence-based programs, to promote and support physical and mental wellbeing throughout each employee's journey with us. We believe that wellbeing is a relationship and that everyone has a part to play, so we work in collaboration and consultation with our employees and across our functions in order to ensure a truly person-centred, innovative and integrated approach.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.
We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
Acknowledgment of Country
In the spirit of reconciliation, TikTok acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
As a member of the Safety Regulatory Compliance Operations (SRCO) team, you will play a key role in keeping TikTok safe and trustworthy for our community. SRCO balances corporate compliance with practical operational safeguards to protect our users. Across our verticals, we work together to build efficient workflows that manage legal risk, covering regulatory compliance, law enforcement requests, and emergency response.
We are looking for a senior Intellectual Property (IP) Functional Lead to serve as an operational anchor and peer mentor for our team in Sydney. Operating as an advanced individual contributor (IC), you will bridge the gap when U.S. teams are offline, serving as the primary operational authority, mentor, and escalation lead during the APAC shift. You will work directly in active queues while guiding local team members, managing time-sensitive cross-functional requests, and ensuring seamless continuity for the USDS JV division. You are a systems thinker and rapid learner, that synthesizes product logic with legal requirements, leverage technical credibility and influence without authority to resolve "unsolvable" challenges and lead vital cross-functional partnerships.
Responsibilities
- Act as the senior operational reference point and peer mentor for Sydney team members navigating complex, ambiguous, or edge-case IP and legal moderation cases.
- Work directly within core operational queues and intake channels (including copyright, trademark, and counterfeit goods) under U.S. legal frameworks, ensuring high quality and strict SLA adherence.
- Serve as the immediate regional lead for high-stakes, time-sensitive escalations, high-profile requests, and emergency incidents during APAC business hours.
- Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Account Management, Legal, Policy, and Product) to address regional needs, resolve operational roadblocks, and communicate status updates effectively.
- Proactively audit workflows to identify operational gaps, tool inefficiencies, and policy friction points, presenting actionable solutions and process improvements to team leadership.
- Drive operational and project work during stable volume periods to improve documentation, edge-case guidance, and shift-handover protocols between Sydney and U.S. counterparts.
- Maintain strong self-direction, prioritization, and executive decision-making capabilities while working independently in a fast-paced environment.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.
- 5 years of experience in Trust & Safety, Legal Operations, Content Moderation, Risk Management, or a related high-velocity operational domain or compliance landscape.
- Proven ability to act as a senior subject matter expert or functional lead, with experience mentoring peers and guiding team members through ambiguous cases.
- Demonstrated track record of making high-judgment operational decisions independently in isolation or under tight time constraints.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the diplomatic finesse required to manage relationships with cross-functional partners, senior leadership, and Account Managers.
- Comfortable reviewing and handling sensitive, high-profile, or challenging content.
- Ability to work in differing work rotations/shifts (including nights, public holidays, and weekends) to ensure time-zone alignment with global and U.S. operations.
Preferred Qualifications
- Strong foundational knowledge of Intellectual Property (IP) law, including practical application of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Lanham Act.
- Direct experience handling high-risk escalations.
- Proven resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence when managing operational stress and navigating organizational change.
Trust & Safety
Content that this role interacts with includes images, video, and text related to every-day life, but it can also include (but is not limited to) bullying; hate speech; child safety; depictions of harm to self and others, and harm to animals. Hence, it is possible that this role will be exposed to harmful content on a daily basis.
TikTok recognises that keeping our platform safe for the TikTok communities is no ordinary job which can be both rewarding and psychologically demanding and emotionally taxing for some. This is why we are sharing the potential hazards, risks and implications in this unique line of work from the start, so our candidates are well informed before joining.
We are committed to the wellbeing of all our employees and promise to provide comprehensive and evidence-based programs, to promote and support physical and mental wellbeing throughout each employee's journey with us. We believe that wellbeing is a relationship and that everyone has a part to play, so we work in collaboration and consultation with our employees and across our functions in order to ensure a truly person-centred, innovative and integrated approach.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.
We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
Acknowledgment of Country
In the spirit of reconciliation, TikTok acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.